The outlines of Mr. Lincoln's Presidential career are alone sufficient
to fill a volume, and his history after he had been sworn into office by
Chief Justice Taney is so much a history of the entire country, and has
been so admirably and thoroughly told by others, that I apprehend I can
omit many of the details and still not impair the portrait I have been
endeavoring to draw in the mind of the reader. The rapid shifting of
scenes in the drama of secession, the disclosure of rebellious plots
and conspiracies, the threats of Southern orators and newspapers, all
culminating in the attack on Fort Sumter, brought the newly installed
President face to face with the stern and grave realities of a civil
war.*
* "Lincoln then told me of his last interview with Douglas.
'One day Douglas came rushing in,' he related, 'and said he
had just got a telegraph despatch from some friends in
Illinois urging him to come out and help set things right in
Egypt, and that he would go, or stay in Washington, just
where I thought he could do the most good. I told him to do
as he chose, but that he could probably do best in Illinois.
Upon that he shook hands with me and hurried away to catch
the next train. I never saw him again.'"--Henry C. Whitney,
MS. letter, November 13, 1866.
Mr. Lincoln's military knowledge had been acquired in the famous
campaign against the Indian Chief Black Hawk on the frontier in 1832,
the thrilling details of which he had already given the country in a
Congressional stump-speech; and to this store of experience he had made
little if any addition. It was therefore generally conceded that in
grappling with the realities of the problem which now confronted both
himself and the country he would be wholly dependent on those who had
made the profession of arms a life-work. Those who held such hastily
conceived notions of Mr. Lincoln were evidently misled by his well-known
and freely advertised Democratic manners. Anybody had a right, it was
supposed, to advise him of his duty; and he was so conscious of his
shortcomings as a military President that the army officers and Cabinet
would run the Government and conduct the war. That was the popular
idea. Little did the press, or people, or politicians then know that
the country lawyer who occupied the executive chair was the most
self-reliant man who ever sat in it, and that when the crisis came his
rivals in the Cabinet, and the people everywhere, would learn that he
and he alone would be master of the situation.
It is doubtless true that for a long time after his entry into office he
did not assert himself; that is, not realizing the gigantic scale upon
which the war was destined to be fought, he may have permitted the idea
to go forth that being unused to the command of armies he would place
himself entirely in the hands of those who were.*
* I was in Washington in the Indian service for a few days
before August, 1861, and I merely said to Lincoln one day,
'Everything is drifting into the war, and I guess you will
have to put me in the army.' He looked up from his work and
said, good-humoredly, 'I'm making generals now. In a few
days I will be making quartermasters, and then I'll fix
you.'"---H. C. Whitney, MS. letter, June 13, 1866.
The Secretary of State, whose ten years in the Senate had acquainted
him with our relations to foreign powers, may have been lulled into the
innocent belief that the Executive would have no fixed or definite views
on international questions. So also of the other Cabinet officers; but
alas for their fancied security! It was the old story of the sleeping
lion. Old politicians, eying him with some distrust and want of
confidence, prepared themselves to control his administration, not only
as a matter of right, but believing that he would be compelled to rely
upon them for support. A brief experience taught them he was not the man
they bargained for.
[Illustration: Portraits 285]
Next in importance to the attack on Fort Sumter, from a military
standpoint, was the battle of Bull Run. How the President viewed it is
best illustrated by an incident furnished by an old friend * who was
an associate of his in the Legislature of Illinois, and who was in
Washington when the engagement took place.
* Robert L. Wilson, MS., Feb. 10, 1866.
"The night after the battle," he relates, "accompanied by two Wisconsin
Congressmen, I called at the White House to get the news from Manassas,
as it was then called, having failed in obtaining any information at
Seward's office and elsewhere. Stragglers were coming with all sorts of
wild rumors, but nothing more definite than that there had been a great
engagement; and the bearer of each report had barely escaped with his
life. Messengers bearing despatches to the President and Secretary of
War were constantly arriving, but outsiders could gather nothing worthy
of belief. Having learned that Mr. Lincoln was at the War Department we
started thither, but found the building surrounded by a great crowd, all
as much in the dark as we. Removing a short distance away we sat down to
rest. Presently Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Nicolay, his private secretary, came
along, headed for the White House. It was proposed by my companions that
as I was acquainted with the President I should join him and ask for the
news. I did so, but he said that he had already told more than under the
rules of the War Department he had any right to, and that, although
he could see no harm in it, the Secretary of War had forbidden his
imparting information to persons not in the military service. 'These war
fellows,' he said, complainingly, 'are very strict with me, and I regret
that I am prevented from telling you anything; but I must obey them,
I suppose, until I get the hang of things.' 'But, Mr. President,' I
insisted, 'if you cannot tell me the news, you can at least indicate
its nature, that is, whether good or bad.' The suggestion struck him
favorably. Grasping my arm he leaned over, and placing his face near my
ear, said, in a shrill but subdued voice, 'It's d------d bad.' It was
the first time I had ever heard him use profane language, if indeed it
was profane in that connection; but later, when the painful details of
the fight came in, I realized that, taking into consideration the
time and the circumstances, no other term would have contained a truer
qualification of the word 'bad.'"
"About one week after the battle of Bull Run," relates another old
friend--Whitney--from Illinois, "I made a call on Mr. Lincoln, having
no business except to give him some presents which the nuns at the Osage
Mission school in Kansas had sent to him through me. A Cabinet meeting
had just adjourned, and I was directed to go at once to his room. He was
keeping at bay a throng of callers, but, noticing me enter, arose
and greeted me with his old-time cordiality. After the room had been
partially cleared of visitors Secretary Seward came in and called up
a case which related to the territory of New Mexico. 'Oh, I see,' said
Lincoln; 'they have neither Governor nor Government. Well, you see Jim
Lane; the secretary is his man, and he must hunt him up,' Seward then
left, under the impression, as I then thought, that Lincoln wanted to
get rid of him and diplomacy at the same time. Several other persons
were announced, but Lincoln notified them all that he was busy and could
not see them. He was playful and sportive as a child, told me all sorts
of anecdotes, dealing largely in stories about Charles James Fox, and
enquired after several odd characters whom we both knew in Illinois.
While thus engaged General James was announced. This officer had sent
in word that he would leave town that evening, and must confer with
the President before going. 'Well, as he is one of the fellows who make
cannons,' observed Lincoln, 'I suppose I must see him. Tell him when I
get through with Whitney I'll see him.' No more cards came up, and James
left about five o'clock, declaring that the President was closeted with
'an old Hoosier from Illinois, and was telling dirty yarns while the
country was quietly going to hell.' But, however indignant General
James may have felt, and whatever the people may have thought, still the
President was full of the war. He got down his maps of the seat of
war," continues Whitney, "and gave me a full history of the preliminary
discussions and steps leading to the battle of Bull Run. He was opposed
to the battle, and explained to General Scott by those very maps how the
enemy could by the aid of the railroad reinforce their army at Manassas
Gap until they had brought every man there, keeping us meanwhile
successfully at bay. 'I showed to General Scott our paucity of railroad
advantages at that point,' said Lincoln, 'and their plenitude, but Scott
was obdurate and would not listen to the possibility of defeat. Now you
see I was right, and Scott knows it, I reckon. My plan was, and still
is, to make a strong feint against Richmond and distract their forces
before attacking Manassas. That problem General McClellan is now trying
to work out.' Mr. Lincoln then told me of the plan he had recommended
to McClellan, which was to send gunboats up one of the rivers--not the
James--in the direction of Richmond, and divert the enemy there while
the main attack was made at Manassas. I took occasion to say that
McClellan was ambitious to be his successor. 'I am perfectly willing,'
he answered, 'if he will only put an end to this war.'"*
* This interview with Lincoln was written out during the
war, and contains many of his peculiarities of expression.
The interview of Mr. Whitney with the President on this occasion is
especially noteworthy because the latter unfolded to him his idea of the
general plan formed in his mind to suppress the rebellion movement and
defeat the Southern army. "The President," continues Mr. Whitney, "now
explained to me his theory of the Rebellion by the aid of the maps
before him. Running his long forefinger down the map he stopped at
Virginia. 'We must drive them away from here (Manassas Gap),' he said,
'and clear them out of this part of the State so that they cannot
threaten us here (Washington) and get into Maryland. We must keep up a
good and thorough blockade of their ports. We must march an army into
east Tennessee and liberate the Union sentiment there. Finally we must
rely on the people growing tired and saying to their leaders: 'We have
had enough of this thing, we will bear it no longer.'"
Such was Mr. Lincoln's plan for heading off the Rebellion in the
summer of 1861. How it enlarged as the war progressed, from a call for
seventy-five thousand volunteers to one for five hundred thousand men
and five hundred millions of dollars, is a matter now of well-known
history. The war once inaugurated, it was plain the North had three
things to do. These were: the opening of the Mississippi River;
the blockade of the Southern ports; and the capture of Richmond. To
accomplish these great and vital ends the deadly machinery of war was
set in motion. The long-expected upheaval had come, and as the torrent
of fire broke forth the people in the agony of despair looking aloft
cried out, "Is our leader equal to the task?" That he was the man for
the hour is now the calm, unbiassed judgment of all mankind.
The splendid victories early in 1862 in the southwest, which gave the
Union cause great advance toward the entire redemption of Kentucky,
Tennessee, and Missouri from the presence of rebel armies and the
prevalence of rebel influence, were counterbalanced by the dilatory
movements and inactive policy of McClellan, who had been appointed
in November of the preceding year to succeed the venerable Scott. The
forbearance of Lincoln in dealing with McClellan was only in keeping
with his well-known spirit of kindness; but, when the time came and
circumstances warranted it, the soldier-statesman found that the
President not only comprehended the scope of the war, but was determined
to be commander-in-chief of the army and navy himself. When it pleased
him to place McClellan again at the head of affairs, over the protest of
such a wilful and indomitable spirit as Stanton, he displayed elements
of rare leadership and evidence of uncommon capacity. His confidence in
the ability and power of Grant, when the press and many of the people
had turned against the hero of Vicksburg, was but another proof of his
sagacity and sound judgment.
As the bloody drama of war moves along we come now to the crowning act
in Mr. Lincoln's career--that sublime stroke with which his name will be
forever and indissolubly united--the emancipation of the slaves. In the
minds of many people there had been a crying need for the liberation of
the slaves. Laborious efforts had been made to hasten the issuance by
the President of the Emancipation Proclamation, but he was determined
not to be forced into premature and inoperative measures. Wendell
Phillips abused and held him up to public ridicule from the stump in New
England. Horace Greeley turned the batteries of the New York _Tribune_
against him; and, in a word, he encountered all the rancor and hostility
of his old friends the Abolitionists. General Fremont having in the fall
of 1861 undertaken by virtue of his authority as a military commander
to emancipate the slaves in his department, the President annulled
the order, which he characterized as unauthorized and premature. This
precipitated an avalanche of fanatical opposition. Individuals and
delegations, many claiming to have been sent by the Lord, visited him
day after day, and urged immediate emancipation. In August, 1862, Horace
Greeley repeated the "prayer of twenty millions of people" protesting
against any further delay. Such was the pressure from the outside. All
his life Mr. Lincoln had been a believer in the doctrine of gradual
emancipation. He advocated it while in Congress in 1848; yet even now,
as a military necessity, he could not believe the time was ripe for the
general liberation of the slaves. All the coercion from without, and all
the blandishments from within, his political household failed to move
him. An heroic figure, indifferent alike to praise and blame, he stood
at the helm and waited. In the shadow of his lofty form the smaller men
could keep up their petty conflicts. Towering thus, he overlooked them
all, and fearlessly abided his time. At last the great moment came.
He called his Cabinet together and read the decree. The deed was done,
unalterably, unhesitatingly, irrevocably, and triumphantly. The people,
at first profoundly impressed, stood aloof, but, seeing the builder
beside the great structure he had so long been rearing, their confidence
was abundantly renewed. It was a glorious work, "sincerely believed
to be an act of justice warranted by the constitution upon military
necessity," and upon it its author "invoked the considerate judgment of
mankind and the gracious favor of Almighty God." I believe Mr. Lincoln
wished to go down in history as the liberator of the black man. He
realized to its fullest extent the responsibility and magnitude of the
act, and declared it was "the central act of his administration and the
great event of the nineteenth century." Always a friend of the negro,
he had from boyhood waged a bitter unrelenting warfare against his
enslavement. He had advocated his cause in the courts, on the stump, in
the Legislature of his State and that of the nation, and, as if to
crown it with a sacrifice, he sealed his devotion to the great cause
of freedom with his blood. As the years roll slowly by, and the
participants in the late war drop gradually out of the ranks of men,
let us pray that we may never forget their deeds of patriotic valor; but
even if the details of that bloody struggle grow dim, as they will with
the lapse of time, let us hope that so long as a friend of free man
and free labor lives the dust of forgetfulness may never settle on the
historic form of Abraham Lincoln.
As the war progressed, there was of course much criticism of Mr.
Lincoln's policy, and some of his political rivals lost no opportunity
to encourage opposition to his methods. He bore everything meekly and
with sublime patience, but as the discontent appeared to spread he felt
called upon to indicate his course. On more than one occasion he pointed
out the blessings of the Emancipation Proclamation or throttled the
clamorer for immediate peace. In the following letter to James C.
Conkling* of Springfield, Ill., in reply to an invitation to attend a
mass meeting of "Unconditional Union" men to be held at his old home,
he not only disposed of the advocates of compromise, but he evinced the
most admirable skill in dealing with the questions of the day.
* "Springfield, III., January 11, 1889.
"Jesse W. Weik, Esq.
"Dear Sir:
"I enclose you a copy of the letter dated August 26, 1863,
by Mr. Lincoln to me. It has been carefully compared with
the original and is a correct copy, except that the words
commencing 'I know as fully as one can know' to the words
'You say you will fight to free negroes' were not included
in the original, but were telegraphed the next day with
instructions to insert. The following short note in Mr.
Lincoln's own handwriting accompanied the letter:
[Private.] "'War Department,
"'Washington City, D. C., August 27, 1862.
"'My Dear Conkling:
"'I cannot leave here now. Herewith is a letter instead. You
are one of the best public readers. I have but one
suggestion--read it very slowly. And now God bless you, and
all good Union men.
"'Yours as ever,
"'A. Lincoln."
"Mr. Bancroft, the historian, in commenting on this letter, considers it
addressed to me as one who was criticising Mr. Lincoln's policy. On the
contrary, I was directed by a meeting of 'Unconditional Union' men to
invite Mr. Lincoln to attend a mass meeting composed of such men, and he
simply took occasion to address his opponents through the medium of the
letter.
"Executive Mansion, Washington, August 26, 1863.
"Hon. James C. Conkling.
"My Dear Sir:
"Your letter inviting me to attend a mass meeting of Unconditional Union
men, to be held at the Capitol of Illinois, on the 3d day of September,
has been received.
"It would be very agreeable to me to thus meet my old friends at my own
home; but I cannot, just now, be absent from here so long as a visit
there would require.
"The meeting is to be of all those who maintain unconditional devotion
to the Union; and I am sure my old political friends will thank me for
tendering, as I do, the nation's gratitude to those other noble men,
whom no partisan malice, or partisan's hope, can make false to the
nation's life.
"There are those who are dissatisfied with me. To such I would say: You
desire peace; and you blame me that we do not have it. But how can we
attain it? There are but three conceivable ways.
"First, to suppress the rebellion by force of arms. This I am trying to
do. Are you for it? If you are, so far we are agreed. If you are not for
it, a second way is, to give up the Union. I am against this. Are
you for it? If you are, you should say so plainly. If you are not for
_force_, nor yet for _dissolution_, there only remains some imaginable
_compromise_. I do not believe any compromise, embracing the maintenance
of the Union, is now possible. All I learn leads to a directly opposite
belief. The strength of the rebellion is its military--its army. That
army dominates all the country and all the people within its range. Any
offer of terms made by any man or men within that range in opposition
to that army is simply nothing for the present, because such man or men
have no power whatever to enforce their side of a compromise, if one
were made with them. To illustrate: suppose refugees from the South,
and peace men of the North, get together in convention and frame and
proclaim a compromise embracing a restoration of the Union; in what
way can that compromise be used to keep Lee's army out of Pennsylvania?
Meade's army can keep Lee's army out of Pennsylvania, and I think can
ultimately drive it out of existence.
"But no paper compromise, to which the controllers of Lee's army are not
agreed, can at all affect that army. In an effort at such compromise we
should waste time, which the enemy would improve to our disadvantage;
and that would be all. A compromise, to be effective, must be made
either with those who control the rebel army, or with the people first
liberated from the domination of that army by the success of our own
army. Now allow me to assure you that no word or intimation from that
rebel army or from any of the men controlling it, in relation to any
peace compromise, has ever come to my knowledge or belief.
"All changes and insinuations to the contrary are deceptive and
groundless. And I promise you that, if any such proposition shall
hereafter come, it shall not be rejected and kept a secret from you. I
freely acknowledge myself the servant of the people, according to the
bond of service--the United States Constitution, and that, as such, I am
responsible to them.
"But to be plain, you are dissatisfied with me about the negro. Quite
likely there is a difference of opinion between you and myself upon that
subject.
"I certainly wish that all men could be free, while I suppose you do
not. Yet I have neither adopted nor proposed any measure which is
not consistent with even your view, provided you are for the Union. I
suggested compensated emancipation; to which you replied you wished not
to be taxed to buy negroes. But I had not asked you to be taxed to buy
negroes, except in such way as to save you from greater taxation to save
the Union exclusively by other means.
"You dislike the Emancipation Proclamation, and, perhaps, would have it
retracted. You say it is unconstitutional--I think differently. I think
the constitution invests its Commander-in-chief with the law of war in
time of war. The most that can be said, if so much, is that slaves are
property. Is there--has there ever been--any question that by the law of
war, property, both of enemies and friends, may be taken when needed?
"And is it not needed wherever taking it helps us or hurts the enemy?
Armies the world over destroy enemies' property when they cannot use
it; and even destroy their own to keep it from the enemy. Civilized
belligerents do all in their power to help themselves or hurt the enemy,
except a few things regarded as barbarous or cruel.
"Among the exceptions are the massacre of vanquished foes and
non-combatants, male and female.
"But the proclamation, as law, either is valid or is not valid.
"If it is not valid, it needs no retraction. If it is valid, it cannot
be retracted any more than the dead can be brought to life. Some of you
profess to think its retraction would operate favorably for the Union.
"Why _better_ after the retraction than _before_ the issue?
"There was more than a year and a half of trial to suppress the
rebellion before the proclamation issued, the last one hundred days of
which passed under an explicit notice that it was coming, unless averted
by those in revolt returning to their allegiance.
"The war has certainly progressed as favorably for us since the issue of
the proclamation as before.
"I know as fully as one can know the opinion of others that some of
the commanders of our armies in the field who have given us our most
important successes believe the emancipation policy and the use of the
colored troops constituted the heaviest blow yet dealt to the Rebellion,
and that at least one of these important successes could not have
been achieved when it was but for the aid of black soldiers. Among the
commanders holding these views are some who have never had any affinity
with what is called abolitionism or with Republican party policies, but
who held them purely as military opinions. I submit these opinions as
being entitled to some weight against the objections often urged that
emancipation and arming the blacks are unwise as military measures, and
were not adopted as such in good faith.
"You say you will not fight to free negroes. Some of them seem willing
to fight for you; but no matter.
"Fight you, then, exclusively to save the Union. I issued the
proclamation on purpose to aid you in saving the Union. Whenever you
shall have conquered all resistance to the Union, if I shall urge you
to continue fighting, it will be an apt time then for you to declare you
will not fight to free negroes.
"I thought that in your struggle for the Union, to whatever extent the
negroes should cease helping the enemy, to that extent it weakened the
enemy in his resistance to you. Do you think differently? I thought that
whatever negroes can be got to do as soldiers leaves just so much less
for white soldiers to do, in saving the Union. Does it appear otherwise
to you?
"But negroes, like other people, act upon motives. Why should they do
anything for us, if we will do nothing for them? If they stake their
lives for us, they must be prompted by the strongest motive--even the
promise of freedom. And the promise being made, must be kept.
"The signs look better. The Father of Waters again goes unvexed to the
sea. Thanks to the great North-west for it. Nor yet wholly to them.
Three hundred miles up they met New England, Empire, Keystone, and
Jersey, hewing their way right and left. The Sunny South too, in more
colors than one, also lent a hand.
"On the spot, their part of the history was jotted down in black and
white. The job was a great national one; and let none be barred who
bore an honorable part in it. And while those who have cleared the great
river may well be proud, even that is not all. It is hard to say
that anything has been more bravely and well done than at Antietam,
Murfreesboro, Gettysburg, and on many fields of lesser note. Nor must
Uncle Sam's web-feet be forgotten. At all the watery margins they have
been present. Not only on the deep sea, the broad bay, and the rapid
river, but also up the narrow, muddy bayou, and wherever the ground was
a little damp, they have been, and made their tracks, thanks to all. For
the great republic--for the principle it lives by and keeps alive--for
man's vast future--thanks to all.
"Peace does not appear so distant as it did. I hope it will come soon
and come to stay, and so come as to be worth the keeping in all future
time. It will then have been proved that, among free men, there can be
no successful appeal from the ballot to the bullet; and that they who
take such appeal are sure to lose their case and pay the cost. And then
there will be some black men who can remember that, with silent tongue,
and clenched teeth, and steady eye, and well-poised bayonet, they have
helped mankind on to this great consummation; while I fear there will
be some white ones, unable to forget that, with malignant heart and
deceitful speech, they have strove to hinder it.
"Still, let us not be over-sanguine of a speedy final triumph. Let us
be quite sober. Let us diligently apply the means, never doubting that a
just God, in his own good time, will give us the rightful result.
"Yours very truly,
"A. Lincoln."
The summer and fall of 1864 were marked by Lincoln's second Presidential
campaign, he, and Andrew Johnson, of Tennessee, for Vice-President,
having been nominated at Baltimore on the 8th of June. Fremont, who had
been placed in the field by a convention of malcontents at Cleveland,
Ohio, had withdrawn in September, and the contest was left to Lincoln
and General George B. McClellan, the nominee of the Democratic
convention at Chicago. The canvass was a heated and bitter one.
Dissatisfied elements appeared everywhere. The Judge Advocate-General
of the army (Holt) created a sensation by the publication of a report
giving conclusive proof of the existence of an organized secret
association at the North, controlled by prominent men in the
Democratic party, whose objects were the overthrow by revolution of the
administration in the interest of the rebellion.*
* "Mr. Lincoln was advised, and I also so advised him, that
the various military trials in the Northern and Border
States, where the courts were free and untrammelled, were
unconstitutional and wrong; that they would not and ought
not to be sustained by the Supreme Court; that such
proceedings were dangerous to liberty. He said he was
opposed to hanging; that he did not like to kill his fellow-
man; that if the world had no butchers but himself it would
go bloodless. When Joseph E. McDonald went to Lincoln about
these military trials and asked him not to execute the men
who had been convicted by the military commission in Indiana
he answered that he would not hang them, but added, 'I'll
keep them in prison awhile to keep them from killing the
Government.' I am fully satisfied therefore that Lincoln was
opposed to these military commissions, especially in the
Northern States, where everything was open and free."--David
Davis, statement, September 10, 1866, to W. H. H.
"I was counsel for Bowles, Milligan, et al.** who had been
convicted of conspiracy by military tribunal in Indiana.
Early in 1865 I went to Washington to confer with the
President, whom I had known, and with whom in earlier days I
had practised law on the circuit in Illinois. My clients had
been sentenced, and unless the President interfered were to
have been executed. Mr. Hendricks, who was then in the
Senate, and who seemed to have little faith in the
probability of executive clemency, accompanied me to the
White House. It was early in the evening, and so many
callers and visitors had preceded us we anticipated a very
brief interview. Much to our surprise we found Mr. Lincoln
in a singularly cheerful and reminiscent mood. He kept us
with him till almost eleven o'clock. He went over the
history of my clients' crime as shown by the papers in the
case, and suggested certain errors and imperfections in the
record. The papers, he explained, would have to be returned
for correction, and that would consume no little time. 'You
may go home, Mr. McDonald,' he said, with a pleased
expression, 'and Ill send for you when the papers get back;
but I apprehend and hope there will be such a jubilee over
yonder,' he added, pointing to the hills of Virginia just
across the river, 'we shall none of us want any more killing
done.' The papers started on their long and circuitous
journey, and sure enough, before they reached Washington
again Mr. Lincoln's prediction of the return of peace had
proved true."--Hon. Joseph E. McDonald, statement, August
28,1888, to J. W. W.
Threats were rife of a revolution at the North, especially in New York
City, if Mr. Lincoln were elected. Mr. Lincoln went steadily on in
his own peculiar way. In a preceding chapter Mr. Swett has told us how
indifferent he appeared to be regarding any efforts to be made in his
behalf. He did his duty as President, and rested secure in the belief
that he would be re-elected whatever might be done for or against him.
The importance of retaining Indiana in the column of Republican States
was not to be overlooked. How the President viewed it, and how he
proposed to secure the vote of the State, is shown in the following
letter written to General Sherman:
"Executive Mansion,
"Washington, September 19, 1864.
"Major General Sherman:
"The State election of Indiana occurs on the 11th of October, and the
loss of it to the friends of the Government would go far towards losing
the whole Union cause. The bad effect upon the November election, and
especially the giving the State government to those who will oppose the
war in every possible way, are too much to risk if it can be avoided.
The draft proceeds, notwithstanding its strong tendency to lose us
the State. Indiana is the only important State voting in October whose
soldiers cannot vote in the field. Anything you can safely do to let her
soldiers or any part of them go home and vote at the State election will
be greatly in point. They need not remain for the Presidential election,
but may return to you at once. This is in no sense an order, but is
merely intended to impress you with the importance to the army itself of
your doing all you safely can, yourself being the judge of what you can
safely do.
"Yours truly,
"A. Lincoln." *
* Unpublished MS.
The election resulted in an overwhelming victory for Lincoln. He
received a majority of over four hundred thousand in the popular vote--a
larger majority than had ever been received by any other President up to
that time. He carried not only Indiana, but all the New England
States, New York, Pennsylvania, all the Western States, West Virginia,
Tennessee, Louisiana, Arkansas, and the newly admitted State of Nevada.
McClellan carried but three states: New Jersey, Delaware, and
Kentucky. The result, as Grant so aptly expressed it in his telegram of
congratulation, was "a victory worth more to the country than a battle
won." A second time Lincoln stood in front of the great Capitol to take
the oath of office administered by his former rival, Salmon P. Chase,
whom he himself had appointed to succeed the deceased Roger B. Taney.
The problem of the war was now fast working its own solution. The cruel
stain of slavery had been effaced from the national escutcheon, and the
rosy morn of peace began to dawn behind the breaking clouds of the great
storm.*
* Bearing on the mission of the celebrated Peace Commission
the following bit of inside history is not without interest:
"I had given notice that at one o'clock on the 31st of
January I would call a vote on the proposed constitutional
amendment abolishing slavery in the United States. The
opposition caught up a report that morning that Peace
Commissioners were on the way to the city or were in the
city. Had this been true I think the proposed amendment
would have failed, as a number who voted for it could easily
have been prevailed upon to vote against it on the ground
that the passage of such a proposition would be offensive to
the commissioners. Accordingly I wrote the President this
note:
"'House of Representatives,
"'January 31, 1865.
"'Dear Sir:
"'The report is in circulation in the House that Peace
Commissioners are on their way or in the city, and is being
used against us. If it is true, I fear we shall lose the
bill. Please authorize me to contradict it, if it is not
true.
"'Respectfully,
"'J. M. Ashley.'
To the President.
Almost immediately came the reply, written on the back of my
note:
"'So far as I know there are no peace Commissioners in the
city or likely to be in it. "'A. Lincoln.'
January 31, 1865.
"Mr. Lincoln knew that the commissioners were then on their
way to Fortress Monroe, where he expected to meet them, and
afterwards did meet them. You see how he answered my note
for my purposes, and yet how truly. You know how he
afterwards met the so-called commission, whom he determined
at the time he wrote this note should not come to the city.
One or two gentlemen were present when he wrote the note, to
whom he read it before sending it to me."--J. M. Ashley, M.
C., letter, November 23, 1866, MS.
Lincoln, firm but kind, in his inaugural address bade his misguided
brethren of the South come back. With a fraternal affection
characteristic of the man, and strictly in keeping with his former
utterances, he asked for the return of peace. "With malice towards none,
with charity for all," he implored his fellow-countrymen, "with firmness
in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us finish the work we
are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have
borne the battle and for his widow and his orphans, to do all which may
achieve and cherish a just and a lasting peace among ourselves and with
all nations." With the coming of spring the great armies, awakening from
their long winter's sleep, began preparations for the closing campaign.
Sherman had already made that grandest march of modern times, from the
mountains of Tennessee through Georgia to the sea, while Grant, with
stolid indifference to public criticism and newspaper abuse, was
creeping steadily on through swamp and ravine to Richmond. Thomas
had defeated Hood in Tennessee, sending the latter back with his army
demoralized, cut in pieces, and ruined. The young and daring Sheridan
had driven Early out of the Shenandoah Valley after a series of
brilliant engagements. The "Kearsarge" had sunk the "Alabama" in
foreign waters. Farragut had captured Mobile, and the Union forces held
undisputed possession of the West and the Mississippi Valley from the
lakes to the gulf. Meanwhile Sherman, undaunted by the perils of a
further march through the enemy's country, returning from the sea,
was aiming for Richmond, where Grant, with bull-dog tenacity, held
Lee firmly in his grasp. Erelong, the latter, with his shattered army
reduced to half its original numbers, evacuated Richmond, with Grant in
close pursuit. A few days later the boys in blue overtook those in gray
at Appomattox Court-house, and there, under the warm rays of an April
sun, the life was at last squeezed out of the once proud but now
prostrate Confederacy. "The sun of peace had fairly risen. The incubus
of war that had pressed upon the nation's heart for four long, weary
years was lifted; and the nation sprang to its feet with all possible
demonstrations of joyous exultation."
Mr. Lincoln himself had gone to the scene of hostilities in Virginia. He
watched the various military manoeuvres and operations, which involved
momentous consequences to the country; he witnessed some of the bloody
engagements participated in by the army of the Potomac. Within a day
after its surrender he followed the victorious Union army into the
city of Richmond. In this unfortunate city--once the proud capital of
Virginia--now smoking and in ruins, he beheld the real horrors of grim
war. Here too he realized in a bountiful measure the earnest gratitude
of the colored people, who everywhere crowded around him and with cries
of intense exultation greeted him as their deliverer. He now returned to
Washington, not like Napoleon fleeing sorrowfully from Waterloo bearing
the tidings of his own defeat, but with joy proclaiming the era of Union
victory and peace among men. "The war was over. The great rebellion
which for four long years had been assailing the nation's life was
quelled. Richmond, the rebel capital, was taken; Lee's army had
surrendered; and the flag of the Union was floating in reassured
supremacy over the whole of the National domain. Friday, the 14th of
April, the anniversary of the surrender of Fort Sumter in 1861 by Major
Anderson to the rebel forces, had been designated by the Government as
the day on which the same officer should again raise the American
flag upon the fort in the presence of an assembled multitude, and with
ceremonies befitting so auspicious an occasion. The whole land rejoiced
at the return of peace and the prospect of renewed prosperity to the
country. President Lincoln shared this common joy, but with a deep
intensity of feeling which no other man in the whole land could ever
know. He saw the full fruition of the great work which had rested so
heavily on his hands and heart for four years past. He saw the great
task--as momentous as had ever fallen to the lot of man--which he had
approached with such unfeigned diffidence, nearly at an end. The agonies
of war had passed away; he had won the imperishable renown which is the
reward of those who save their country; and he could devote himself
now to the welcome task of healing the wounds which war had made, and
consolidating by a wise and magnanimous policy the severed sections of
our common Union. His heart was full of the generous sentiments which
these circumstances were so well calculated to inspire. He was cheerful
and hopeful of the success of his broad plans for the treatment of the
conquered people of the South. With all the warmth of his loving nature,
after the four years of storm through which he had been compelled to
pass, he viewed the peaceful sky on which the opening of his second
term had dawned. His mind was free from forebodings and filled only with
thoughts of kindness and of future peace." But alas for the vanity of
human confidence! The demon of assassination lurked near. In the midst
of the general rejoicing at the return of peace Mr. Lincoln was
stricken down by the assassin, John Wilkes Booth, in Ford's Theatre at
Washington. The story of his death, though oft repeated, is the saddest
and most impressive page in American history. I cannot well forbear
reproducing its painful and tragic details here.*
* For the details of the assassination and the capture and
subsequent history of the conspirators, I am indebted to
Mrs. Gertrude Garrison, of New York, who has given the
subject no little study and investigation. J. W. W.
[Illustration: Ford's Theatre 309]
"Mr. Lincoln for years had a presentiment that he would reach a
high place and then be stricken down in some tragic way. He took no
precautions to keep out of the way of danger. So many threats had been
made against him that his friends were alarmed, and frequently urged
him not to go out unattended. To all their entreaties he had the same
answer: 'If they kill me the next man will be just as bad for them. In
a country like this, where our habits are simple, and must be,
assassination is always possible, and will come if they are determined
upon it.'
"Whatever premonition of his tragic fate he may have had, there is
nothing to prove that he felt the nearness of the awful hour. Doomed
men rise and go about their daily duties as unoppressed, often, as those
whose paths know no shadow. On that never-to-be-forgotten 14th of April
President Lincoln passed the day in the usual manner. In the morning
his son, Captain Robert Lincoln, breakfasted with him. The young man had
just returned from the capitulation of Lee, and he described in detail
all the circumstances of that momentous episode of the close of the
war, to which the President listened with the closest interest. After
breakfast the President spent an hour with Speaker Colfax, talking
about his future policy, about to be submitted to his Cabinet. At eleven
o'clock he met the Cabinet. General Grant was present. He spent the
afternoon with Governor Oglesby, Senator Yates, and other friends
from Illinois. He was invited by the manager of Ford's theatre, in
Washington, to attend in the evening a performance of the play, 'Our
American Cousin,' with Laura Keene as the leading lady. This play, now
so well known to all play-goers, in which the late Southern afterward
made fortune and fame, was then comparatively unheralded. Lincoln was
fond of the drama. Brought up in a provincial way, in the days when
theatres were unknown outside of the larger cities, the beautiful art of
the actor was fresh and delightful to him.
"He loved Shakespeare, and never lost an opportunity of seeing his
characters rendered by the masters of dramatic art. But on that evening,
it is said, he was not eager to go. The play was new, consequently not
alluring to him; but he yielded to the wishes of Mrs. Lincoln and went.
They took with them Miss Harris and Major Rathbone, daughter and stepson
of Senator Harris, of New York.
"The theatre was crowded. At 9: 20 the President and his party entered.
The audience rose and cheered enthusiastically as they passed to the
'state box' reserved for them. Little did anyone present dream that
within the hour enthusiasm would give place to shrieks of horror. It
was ten o'clock when Booth came upon the scene to enact the last
and greatest tragedy of the war. He had planned carefully, but not
correctly. A good horse awaited him at the rear of the theatre, on which
he intended to ride into friendly shelter among the hills of Maryland.
He made his way to the President's box--a double one in the second tier,
at the left of the stage. The separating partition had been removed, and
both boxes thrown into one.
"Booth entered the theatre nonchalantly, glanced at the stage with
apparent interest, then slowly worked his way around into the outer
passage leading toward the box occupied by the President. At the end
of an inner passage leading to the box door, one of the President's
"messengers" was stationed to prevent unwelcome intrusions. Booth
presented a card to him, stating that Mr. Lincoln had sent for him, and
was permitted to pass. After gaining an entrance and closing the hall
door, he took a piece of board prepared for the occasion, and placed one
end of it in an indentation in the wall, about four feet from the floor,
and the other against the molding of the door panel a few inches higher,
making it impossible for any one to enter from without. The box had two
doors. He bored a gimlet hole in the panel of one, reaming it out with
his knife, so as to leave it a little larger than a buckshot on the
inside, while on the other side it was big enough to give his eye a wide
range. Both doors had spring locks. To secure against their being locked
he had loosened the screws with which the bolts were fastened.
"So deliberately had he planned that the very seats in the box had been
arranged to suit his purpose by an accomplice, one Spangler, an attache
of the theatre. The President sat in the left-hand corner of the box,
nearest the audience, in an easy arm-chair. Next him, on the right, sat
Mrs. Lincoln. A little distance to the right of both, Miss Harris was
seated, with Major Rathbone at her left, and a little in the rear of
Mrs. Lincoln, who, intent on the play, was leaning forward, with one
hand resting on her husband's knee. The President was leaning upon one
hand, and with the other was toying with a portion of the drapery. His
face was partially turned to the audience, and wore a pleasant smile.
"The assassin swiftly entered the box through the door at the right, and
the next instant fired. The ball entered just behind the President's
left ear, and, though not producing instantaneous death, completely
obliterated all consciousness.
"Major Rathbone heard the report, and an instant later saw the murderer,
about six feet from the President, and grappled with him, but his
grasp was shaken off. Booth dropped his pistol and drew a long, thin,
deadly-looking knife, with which he wounded the major. Then, touching
his left hand to the railing of the box, he vaulted over to the stage,
eight or nine feet below. In that descent an unlooked-for and curious
thing happened, which foiled all the plans of the assassin and was the
means of bringing him to bay at last. Lincoln's box was draped with
the American flag, and Booth, in jumping, caught his spur in its folds,
tearing it down and spraining his ankle. He crouched as he fell, falling
upon one knee, but soon straightened himself and stalked theatrically
across the stage, brandishing his knife and shouting the State motto
of Virginia, '_Sic semper tyrannis!_' afterward adding, 'The South is
avenged!' He made his exit on the opposite side of the stage, passing
Miss Keene as he went out. A man named Stewart, a tall lawyer of
Washington, was the only person with presence of mind enough to spring
upon the stage and follow him, and he was too late.
"It had all been done so quickly and dramatically that many in the
audience were dazed, and could not understand that anything not a part
of the play had happened. When, at last, the awful truth was known
to them there ensued a scene, the like of which was never known in a
theatre before. Women shrieked, sobbed, and fainted. Men cursed and
raved, or were dumb with horror and amazement. Miss Keene stepped to the
front and begged the frightened and dismayed audience to be calm. Then
she entered the President's box with water and stimulants. Medical
aid was summoned and came with flying feet, but came too late. The
murderer's bullet had done its wicked work well. The President
hardly stirred in his chair, and never spoke or showed any signs of
consciousness again.
[Illustration: The Peterson House 316]
"They carried him immediately to the house of Mr. Petersen, opposite
the theatre, and there, at 7:22 the next morning, the 15th of April, he
died.
"The night of Lincoln's assassination was a memorable one in Washington.
Secretary Seward was attacked and wounded while lying in bed with a
broken arm.
"The murder of the President put the authorities on their guard against
a wide-reaching conspiracy, and threw the public into a state of terror.
The awful event was felt even by those who knew not of it. Horsemen
clattered through the silent streets of Washington, spreading the sad
tidings, and the telegraph wires carried the terrible story everywhere.
The nation awakened from its dream of peace on the 15th of April, 1865,
to learn that its protector, leader, friend, and restorer had been laid
low by a stage-mad 'avenger.' W. O. Stoddard, in his 'Life of Lincoln,'
says: 'It was as if there had been a death in every house throughout
the land. By both North and South alike the awful news was received with
a shudder and a momentary spasm of unbelief. Then followed one of the
most remarkable spectacles in the history of the human race, for there
is nothing else at all like it on record. Bells had tolled before at the
death of a loved ruler, but never did all bells toll so mournfully as
they did that day. Business ceased. Men came together in public meetings
as if by a common impulse, and party lines and sectional hatreds seemed
to be obliterated.
"The assassination took place on Friday evening, and on the following
Sunday funeral services were held in all the churches in the land, and
every church was draped in mourning."
The death of Mr. Lincoln was an indescribable shock to his fellow
countrymen. The exultation of victory over the final and successful
triumph of Union arms was suddenly changed to the lamentations of grief.
In every household throughout the length and breadth of the land there
was a dull and bitter agony as the telegraph bore tidings of the awful
deed. The public heart, filled with joy over the news from Appomattox,
now sank low with a sacred terror as the sad tidings from the Capitol
came in. In the great cities of the land all business instantly ceased.
Flags drooped half-mast from every winged messenger of the sea, from
every church spire, and from every public building. Thousands upon
thousands, drawn by a common feeling, crowded around every place of
public resort and listened eagerly to whatever any public speaker
chose to say. Men met in the streets and pressed each other's hands in
silence, and burst into tears. The whole nation, which the previous day
had been jubilant and hopeful, was precipitated into the depths of a
profound and tender woe. It was a memorable spectacle to the world--a
whole nation plunged into heartfelt grief and the deepest sorrow.
The body of the dead President, having been embalmed, was removed from
the house in which the death occurred to the White House, and there
appropriate funeral services were held. After the transfer of the
remains to the Capitol, where the body was exposed to view in the
Rotunda for a day, preparations were made for the journey to the home
of the deceased in Illinois. On the following day (April 21) the funeral
train left Washington amid the silent grief of the thousands who had
gathered to witness its departure. At all the great cities along the
route stops were made, and an opportunity was given the people to look
on the face of the illustrious dead. The passage of this funeral
train westward through country, village, and city, winding across the
territory of vast States, along a track of more than fifteen hundred
miles, was a pageant without a parallel in the history of the continent
or the world. At every halt in the sombre march vast crowds, such as
never before had collected together, filed past the catafalque for a
glimpse of the dead chieftain's face. Farmers left their farms, workmen
left their shops, societies and soldiers marched in solid columns, and
the great cities poured forth their population in countless masses. From
Washington the funeral train moved to Baltimore, thence to Harrisburg,
Philadelphia, New York, Albany, Buffalo, Cleveland, Columbus,
Indianapolis, Chicago, and at last to Springfield.
As the funeral cortege passed through New York it was reverently gazed
upon by a mass of humanity impossible to enumerate. No ovation could
be so eloquent as the spectacle of the vast population, hushed and
bareheaded under the bright spring sky, gazing upon his coffin.
Lincoln's own words over the dead at Gettysburg came to many as the
stately car went by: "The world will little note nor long remember what
we say here, but it can never forget what they did here."
It was remembered, too, that on the 22d of February, 1861, as he raised
the American flag over Independence Hall, in Philadelphia, he spoke of
the sentiment in the Declaration of Independence which gave liberty
not only to this country, but, "I hope," he said, "to the world for all
future time. But if this country cannot be saved without giving up that
principle, I was about to say I would rather be assassinated upon this
spot than surrender it." When he died the veil that hid his greatness
was torn aside, and the country then knew what it had possessed and
lost in him. A New York paper, of April 29, 1865, said: "No one who
personally knew him but will now feel that the deep, furrowed sadness
of his face seemed to forecast his fate. The genial gentleness of his
manner, his homely simplicity, the cheerful humor that never failed, are
now seen to have been but the tender light that played around the rugged
heights of his strong and noble nature. It is small consolation that
he died at the moment of the war when he could best be spared, for no
nation is ever ready for the loss of such a friend. But it is something
to remember that he lived to see the slow day breaking. Like Moses, he
had marched with us through the wilderness. From the height of patriotic
vision he beheld the golden fields of the future waving in peace and
plenty. He beheld, and blessed God, but was not to enter in."
In a discourse delivered on Lincoln on the 23d of that month, Henry Ward
Beecher said:
"And now the martyr is moving in triumphal march, mightier than when
alive. The nation rises up at every stage of his coming. Cities and
states are his pall-bearers, and the cannon speaks the hours with solemn
progression. Dead, dead, dead, he yet speaketh. Is Washington dead? Is
Hampden dead? Is any man that was ever fit to live dead? Disenthralled
of flesh, risen to the unobstructed sphere where passion never comes, he
begins his illimitable work. His life is now grafted upon the infinite,
and will be fruitful as no earthly life can be. Pass on, thou that
hast overcome. Ye people, behold the martyr whose blood, as so many
articulate words, pleads for fidelity, for law, for liberty."
The funeral train reached Springfield on the 3d of May. The casket was
borne to the State House and placed in Representative Hall--the very
chamber in which in 1854 the deceased had pronounced that fearful
invective against the sin of human slavery. The doors were thrown open,
the coffin lid was removed, and we who had known the illustrious dead
in other days, and before the nation lay its claim upon him, moved sadly
through and looked for the last time on the silent, upturned face of our
departed friend. All day long and through the night a stream of people
filed reverently by the catafalque. Some of them were his colleagues
at the bar; some his old friends from New Salem; some crippled soldiers
fresh from the battle-fields of the war; and some were little children
who, scarce realizing the impressiveness of the scene, were destined to
live and tell their children yet to be born the sad story of Lincoln's
death.
At ten o'clock in the morning of the second day, as a choir of
two-hundred-and-fifty voices sang "Peace, Troubled Soul," the lid of the
casket was shut down forever. The remains were borne outside and placed
in a hearse, which moved at the head of a procession in charge of
General Joseph Hooker to Oak Ridge cemetery. There Bishop Matthew
Simpson delivered an eloquent and impressive funeral oration, and Rev.
Dr. Gurley, of Washington, offered up the closing prayer. While the
choir chanted "Unveil Thy Bosom, Faithful Tomb," the vault door opened
and received to its final rest all that was mortal of Abraham Lincoln.
"It was soon known that the murder of Lincoln was one result of a
conspiracy which had for its victims Secretary Seward and probably
Vice-President Johnson, Secretary Stanton, General Grant, and perhaps
others. Booth had left a card for Mr. Johnson the day before, possibly
with the intention of killing him. Mr. Seward received wounds, from
which he soon recovered. Grant, who was to have accompanied Lincoln to
the theatre on the night of the assassination, and did not, escaped
unassailed. The general conspiracy was poorly planned and lamely
executed. It involved about twenty-five persons. Mrs. Surratt, David C.
Harold, Lewis Payne, Edward Spangler, Michael O'Loughlin, J. W.
Atzerodt, Samuel Arnold, and Dr. Samuel Mudd, who set Booth's leg, which
was dislocated by the fall from the stage-box, were among the number
captured and tried.
"After the assassination Booth escaped unmolested from the theatre,
mounted his horse, and rode away, accompanied by Harold, into Maryland.
Cavalrymen scoured the country, and eleven days after the shooting
discovered them in a barn on Garrett's farm, near Port Royal on the
Rappahannock. The soldiers surrounded the barn and demanded a surrender.
After the second demand Harold surrendered, under a shower of curses
from Booth, but Booth refused, declaring that he would never be taken
alive. The captain of the squad then fired the barn. A correspondent
thus describes the scene:
"'The blaze lit up the recesses of the great barn till every wasp's nest
and cobweb in the roof were luminous, flinging streaks of red and violet
across the tumbled farm gear in the corner. They tinged the beams, the
upright columns, the barricades, where clover and timothy piled high
held toward the hot incendiary their separate straws for the funeral
pile. They bathed the murderer's retreat in a beautiful illumination,
and, while in bold outlines his figure stood revealed, they rose like
an impenetrable wall to guard from sight the hated enemy who lit them.
Behind the blaze, with his eye to a crack, Colonel Conger saw Wilkes
Booth standing upright upon a crutch. At the gleam of fire Booth dropped
his crutch and carbine, and on both hands crept up to the spot to espy
the incendiary and shoot him dead. His eyes were lustrous with fever,
and swelled and rolled in terrible beauty, while his teeth were fixed,
and he wore the expression of one in the calmness before frenzy. In vain
he peered, with vengeance in his look; the blaze that made him visible
concealed his enemy. A second he turned glaring at the fire, as if to
leap upon it and extinguish it, but it had made such headway that he
dismissed the thought. As calmly as upon the battle-field a veteran
stands amidst the hail of ball and shell and plunging iron, Booth turned
and pushed for the door, carbine in poise, and the last resolve of
death, which we name despair, set on his high, bloodless forehead.
"'Just then Sergeant Boston Corbett fired through a crevice and shot
Booth in the neck. He was carried out of the barn and laid upon the
grass, and there died about four hours afterward. Before his misguided
soul passed into the silence of death he whispered something which
Lieutenant Baker bent down to hear. "Tell mother I die for my country,"
he said, faintly. Reviving a moment later he re peated the words, and
added, "I thought I did for the best."
"His days of hiding and fleeing from his pursuers had left him pale,
haggard, dirty, and unkempt. He had cut off his mustache and cropped his
hair close to his head, and he and Harold both wore the Confederate gray
uniform.'
"Booth's body was taken to Washington, and a post mortem examination of
it held on board the monitor "Montauk," and on the night of the 27th
of April it was given in charge of two men in a rowboat, who, it is
claimed, disposed of it in secrecy--how, none but themselves know.
Numerous stories have been told of the final resting-place of that hated
dead man. Whoever knows the truth of it tells it not.
"Sergeant Corbett, who shot Booth, fired without orders. The last
instructions given by Colonel Baker to Colonel Conger and Lieutenant
Baker were: 'Don't shoot Booth, but take him alive.' Corbett was
something of a fanatic, and for a breach of discipline had once been
court-martialled and sentenced to be shot. The order, however, was not
executed, but he had been drummed out of the regiment. He belonged to
Company L of the Sixteenth New York Cavalry. He was English by birth,
but was brought up in this country, and learned the trade of hat
finisher. While living in Boston he Joined the Methodist Episcopal
Church. Never having been baptized, he was at a loss to know what name
to adopt, but after making it a subject of prayer he took the name
of Boston, in honor of the place of his conversion. He was ever
undisciplined and erratic. He is said to be living in Kansas, and draws
a pension from the Government.
"Five of the conspirators were tried, and four, Payne, Harold, Atzerodt
and Mrs. Surratt, were hanged. Dr. Mudd was sent to the Dry Tortugas for
a period of years, and there did such good work among the yellow-fever
sufferers during an epidemic that he was pardoned and returned to this
country. He died only about two years ago at his home in Maryland, near
Washington. John Surratt fled to Italy, and there entered the Papal
guards. He was discovered by Archbishop Hughes, and by the courtesy of
the Italian government, though the extradition laws did not cover his
case, was delivered over to the United States for trial. At his first
trial the jury hung; at the second, in which Edwards Pierrepont was
the Government counsel, Surratt got off on the plea of limitations. He
undertook to lecture, and began at Rockville, Md. The Evening Star, of
Washington, reported the lecture, which was widely copied, and was of
such a feeble character that it killed him as a lecturer. He went
to Baltimore, where, it is said, he still lives. Spangler, the
scene-shifter, who was an accomplice of Booth, was sent to the Dry
Tortugas, served out his term and died about ten years ago. McLoughlin,
who was arrested because of his acquaintance with the conspirators, was
sent to the Dry Tortugas and there died.
"Ford's Theatre was never played in after that memorable night. Ten
or twelve days after the assassination Ford attempted to open it,
but Stanton prevented it, and the Government bought the theatre for
$100,000, and converted it into a medical museum. Ford was a Southern
sympathizer. He ran two theatres until four years ago, one in Washington
and one in Baltimore. Alison Naylor, the livery man who let Booth have
his horse, still lives in Washington. Major Rathbone, who was in the box
with Lincoln when he was shot, died within the last four years. Stewart,
the man who jumped on the stage to follow Booth, and announced to the
audience that he had escaped through the alley, died lately. Strange,
but very few persons can now be found who were at the theatre that
night. Laura Keene died a few years ago.
Booth the assassin was the third son of the eminent English tragedian
Junius Brutus Booth, and the brother of the equally renowned Edwin
Booth. He was only twenty-six years old when he figured as the chief
actor in this horrible drama. He began his dramatic career as John
Wilkes, and as a stock actor gained a fair reputation, but had not
achieved any special success. He had played chiefly in the South
and West, and but a few times in New York. Some time before the
assassination of Lincoln he had abandoned his profession on account of a
bronchial affection. Those who knew him and saw him on that fatal Friday
say that he was restless, like one who, consciously or unconsciously,
was overshadowed by some awful fate.
He knew that the President and his party intended to be present at
Ford's theatre in the evening, and he asked an acquaintance if he should
attend the performance, remarking that if he did he would see some
unusually fine acting. He was a handsome man. His eyes were large and
dark, his hair dark and inclined to curl, his features finely moulded,
his form tall, and his address pleasing.
Frederick Stone, counsel for Harold after Booth's death, is authority
for the statement that the occasion for Lincoln's assassination was
the sentiment expressed by the President in a speech delivered from the
steps of the White House on the night of April 11, when he said: "If
universal amnesty is granted to the insurgents I cannot see how I can
avoid exacting in return universal suffrage, or at least suffrage on the
basis of intelligence and military service." Booth was standing
before Mr. Lincoln on the outskirts of the crowd. "That means nigger
citizenship," he said to Harold by his side. "Now, by God! I'll put
him through." But whatever may have been the incentive, Booth seemed to
crave the reprehensible fame that attaches to a bold and dramatically
wicked deed. He may, it is true, have been mentally unhinged, but,
whether sane or senseless, he made for himself an infamous and endless
notoriety when he murdered the patient, forbearing man who had
directed our ship of state through the most tempestuous waters it ever
encountered.
In the death of Lincoln the South, prostrate and bleeding, lost a
friend; and his unholy taking-off at the very hour of the assured
supremacy of the Union cause ran the iron into the heart of the North.
His sun went down suddenly, and whelmed the country in a darkness which
was felt by every heart; but far up the clouds sprang apart, and soon
the golden light, flooding the heavens with radiance, illuminated every
uncovered brow with the hope of a fair to-morrow. His name will ever be
the watchword of liberty. His work is finished, and sealed forever with
the veneration given to the blood of martyrs. Yesterday a man reviled
and abused, a target for the shafts of malice and hatred: to-day an
apostle. Yesterday a power: to-day a prestige, sacred, irresistible. The
life and the tragic death of Mr. Lincoln mark an epoch in history from
which dates the unqualified annunciation by the American people of the
greatest truth in the bible of republicanism--the very keystone of that
arch of human rights which is destined to overshadow and remodel every
government upon the earth. The glorious brightness of that upper world,
as it welcomed his faint and bleeding spirit, broke through upon the
earth at his exit--it was the dawn of a day growing brighter as the
grand army of freedom follows in the march of time.
Lincoln's place in history will be fixed--aside from his personal
characteristics--by the events and results of the war. As a great
political leader who quelled a rebellion of eight millions of people,
liberated four millions of slaves, and demonstrated to the world
the ability of the people to maintain a government of themselves, by
themselves, for themselves, he will assuredly occupy no insignificant
place.
To accomplish the great work of preserving the Union cost the land
a great price. Generations of Americans yet unborn, and humanity
everywhere, for years to come will mourn the horrors and sacrifices of
the first civil war in the United States; but above the blood of its
victims, above the bones of its dead, above the ashes of desolate
hearths, will arise the colossal figure of Abraham Lincoln as the most
acceptable sacrifice offered by the nineteenth century in expiation of
the great crime of the seventeenth. Above all the anguish and tears of
that immense hecatomb will appear the shade of Lincoln as the symbol of
hope and of pardon.
This is the true lesson of Lincoln's life: real and enduring greatness,
that will survive the corrosion and abrasion of time, of change, and
of progress, must rest upon character. In certain brilliant and what
is understood to be most desirable endowments how many Americans have
surpassed him. Yet how he looms above them all! Not eloquence, nor
logic, nor grasp of thought; not statesmanship, nor power of command,
nor courage; not any nor all of these have made him what he is, but
these, in the degree in which he possessed them, conjoined to those
qualities comprised in the term character, have given him his fame--have
made him for all time to come the great American, the grand, central
figure in American--perhaps the world's--history.